Can't login in GDM

I have installed gnome and GDM and set it to start at boot but I can't login. I am trying to login as root though. Is it only possible to login as a user? If so how can I make it back to the command prompt to make a user?

GUI logins are generally disabled for root users for security reasons. You can check the Arch wiki article on GDM for several different workarounds to logging in with GDM as regular and root user:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GDM

The wiki page does say how to login as root through GDM but to do so you must edit a configuration file and I have no way to do that because I can't get to the command prompt. Is there a key to press during boot to go to the original login screen?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by osiff

Is there a key to press during boot to go to the original login screen?

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Assuming you are using GRUB, you can boot into single-user mode to have root access without GDM loading:

-boot your machine
-when the GRUB menu appears, use the arrow keys to choose the OS you want to boot
-press the letter "e'' on the keyboard to enter edit mode
-use your arrow keys to select the kernel line of the kernel to be booted
-press "e" to edit that line
-go to end of line and type "single" (without quotes) as a separate word, then press ENTER
-press ESC key to exit the edit mode
-press "b" to boot into single user mode

You can see the following wiki page (down toward the bottom of the page) for some alternate methods of switching run-levels:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...ing_run-levels

This command didn't seem to make much difference. Any other suggestions?

Sorry, I accidentally left out the following step above but have added it now:

then press ENTER

I created a user and can login but once I hit enter the login dialog disappears but nothing else happens

I personally find display managers to be a pain in the rear (for various reasons) so never install them, but instead use an .xinitrc file (see the .xinitrc wiki page) and 'startx' to start my window manager, or desktop environment. You could always try that, then once you have it all working the way you want, you could start experimenting with your display manager again. If your desktop environment is installed and configured properly but won't start with 'startx', you probably have some kind of video/graphics issue going on.

Well it won't boot to run level 3 either now it just boots to a blank screen when i add 3 to the end of the kernel line through GRUB

Have you tried a normal boot, then at the login screen press ctrl+alt+f1 to get to a terminal ... you should be able to login as root and create a normal user.